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Give teachers the respect due to them

As a parent of four children who have gone through the Dixon Public School system, I’m blessed to have them successfully educated due entirely to the dedication of the teachers and support staff.

I’ve volunteered in overcrowded classrooms, witnessed textbooks falling apart and with pages missing, and struggled to assist children who don’t have access to a textbook because there aren’t enough for the whole class.

All this and yet, my children have been able to be successful. Some argue it proves no changes are needed; I disagree. It demonstrates the quality of the educators making due for too long, continuing to do the impossible.

Many argue Dixon doesn’t have the money. We’re talking about Dixon’s future. We spend millions on making the city “pretty” and little on its future. We mismanage city government, costing the city millions of dollars.

If this city is to have a future, we must successfully grow those who will be the future.

Reading about the teacher’s strike of 1983 serves only to confirm we haven’t had our priorities right for decades. Shame on Judge Bales.

Larry Miller was my fifth-grade teacher. If he felt a strike needed to occur, then it was with a heavy heart he led the teachers in that direction.

Likewise, teachers today have served in good faith since August. Give them the respect that is due.

Mr. Juenger, become the leader you were hired to be. Bullying and intimidation are never traits of a successful leader. The Dixon people will not tolerate those things in our leaders. Henry Ford once said, “Don’t find fault; find a remedy.”

I urge that the children of Dixon are educated in appropriate size classes (not averages), have appropriate and adequate amounts of textbooks, computers, etc., and adequate compensation for the teachers and paraprofessionals who educate our future.